Pre-Covid Conference (2019)

Wednesday, 26th November 2025

To recap, here is my rapture list again:

1. Visit Villa Park (2007/2015)
2. Own a BMW (2008/2016)
3. Appear on TV (2008/2022)
4. Go Israel (2013/2018)
5. Drive a lorry/truck (since 2017)
6. Go on a Mission Trip (2018)
7. Attend a Hillsong Conference (2019)
8. CFO a listed company (2019)
9. Ride a motorbike (2020)
10. Interact with a corgi (2022)
11. Play bass guitar (since 2022)
12. Attend a Kim Wilde concert (2024)
13. Reduce golf handicap to single-digit
14. Travel across USA
15. Meet Pastor Joseph Prince in person

Let's move on to item 7 on the list.

For the longest time, I had been wanting to attend a Hillsong Conference.  

My daughter herself beat me to it.  She was there in 2014, when the song "No Other Name" was first released.

Many anointed evergreen worship songs such as "Shout to the Lord" and "Power of Your Love" are compositions of that church.

My own personal favourites are:

"This Is Our God" (released in 2008)

"Cornerstone" (released in 2012)

"Love on The Line" (released in 2015)

Of course, there are many churches out there now that have written-off and even condemned Hillsong Church because of what happened with Brian Houston and his dad, and refuse to sing their songs anymore.

My response to these churches would be that since they are so holy and self-righteous, they should perhaps also ban their congregation from reading Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs because these books were written by King Solomon, a philanderer/womaniser who had hundreds of wives and concubines combined, a hypocrite who did not heed his own advice to stay on the straight and narrow.

My Bible tells me that all scripture is God-breathed, and that would include the 3 abovementioned books canonised in the Bible.  Solomon was but merely an instrument that God used to pen down those words.

In the same manner, all those wonderful worship songs written over the decades by Hillsong that focus on and exalt Jesus and His finished work were likewise inspired by the Holy Spirit, despite them being composed and performed by mortal men.

So go and get a life, the zoe one, the one that Jesus said He came to give us more abundantly.

Having established the above, my wife and I had the honour and privilege to attend the Conference that was held from 9 to 12 July 2019 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, the year before Covid struck.

Among the key speakers at that Conference was Pastor Joseph Prince himself, so quite a number of New Creation Church members were in attendance too, including his own daughter Jessica.

Our current CG leaders Venn and Vivien also signed up, so we had a meal together over there. Praise the Lord!

Mission Possible (2018)

Tuesday, 25th November 2025

After I re-dedicated my life to the Lord in December 1987 at a joint Sunday-School/Methodist Youth Fellowship Camp, I wanted to "make up for lost time" for the 9 or so backslidden teenage years.  That was why I was very active in the Christian Fellowship of Nanyang Technological University (it was NTI back then).

I was Program Coordinator (part of the Program & Publicity Committee) in my 1st year, Editor (part of the Resource & Publications ("R&P") Committee in my second year, Chaired the Orientation Committee (which we affectionately called "Canopy", making reference to Isa 54:2), and also Vice-Chairman of R&P in my third year.

I recall being told that many of the CF Exco members would inevitably end up going full-time a couple of years after graduation.  There was also this other Evangelism & Missions ("E&M") Committee that organised annual MEET (mission evangelism exposure trips), named such so that undergraduates who felt a calling to go into full-time missionary work would be exposed to what (hardships and challenges) would be in store for them before they actually took the plunge.

Truth be told, going full-time did cross my mind at one temporary stage of my undergraduate life (sometime in 1990), but it was fleeting at most.  Hence, I have the deepest respect and admiration for those who dedicate their lives to serving God full-time.  I however did want to go on a mission trip, at least once in my life, and God fulfilled that desire of mine in April 2018, nearly 30 years later.  Better late than never, I suppose haha.

Many out there have the impression that New Creation Church is a "hyper-grace", "health & wealth", "prosperity gospel" church.  The truth of the matter is that it has for the longest time an Outreach arm led by Ps Lawrence Lim that reaches out to migrant workers, those in prisons, halfway houses, old folks' homes, hospices, rented flats and also regionally to villages in Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia.  In 2023, the Outreach arm was expanded and is now officially a registered charity: New Creation Community Services Ltd.  You can read more about that here:

https://newcreationcs.org.sg/

I myself had never had nor taken the opportunity to go for any mission trip when I was in Paya Lebar Methodist Church.

When I changed church in January 2018, I thank God that the Logistics & Transport Ministry was planning a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand from 29 April to 4 May that same year, in conjunction with what was then the Outreach Ministry.

And so I signed up for it. 

It was an awesome experience -- a mission possible -- and as a result, I got to check off item 6 on my rapture list.

A Modern-Day Obed-Edom (since 2017)

Monday, 24th November 2025

Let's move on to item 5 on my rapture list, which is to drive a lorry/truck.

I have blogged before about how my childhood dream was to be a lorry driver, which you can read about here:

https://rootss.blogspot.com/2025/07/how-god-turned-you-siao-ah-dream-into.html

I took a light-hearted angle when I wrote that entry.

Let us now look at it from a more serious and biblical view.

One very interesting character recorded for us in the Scriptures (in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chron 13 specifically) is this man called Obed-Edom, the Gittite in whose home the Ark of the Covenant resided temporarily for 3 months.  During those 3 months, God overtly blessed Obed-Edom and his entire household.

When King David wanted the Ark to be moved to Jerusalem, Obed-Edom uprooted his entire family and moved together along with the Ark!

Obed-Edom's initial role was meant to be temporary.  Yet God saw his heart of service and how he esteemed the Ark (a picture of Jesus and His finished work) and as a result, blessed him and his family.  Obed-Edom realised who was the source of blessings and that was why he made that custodial role of his a more permanent one -- he moved to Jerusalem so that he could continue to tend to it when it was placed inside the tabernacle of David.

Besides his name and where he used to stay, the Bible gives us no further details about Obed-Edom.  He was faceless, unglamorous, someone who served behind-the-scenes, but with a servant heart.

Fast forward to today and a modern-day equivalent of Obed-Edom would be the volunteer drivers serving in the Logistics & Transport Ministry of New Creation Church.  Among all the servers in any ministry, we are the ones who are the most "behind-the-scenes", faceless and nameless, quietly transporting and deploying items being used by other ministries.  We are identified more by our black and orange uniform (serving Tshirts to be more precise) rather than by our individual personalities.  We are among the first to set-up before Sunday services begin and among the last to pack-up after they end. 

And I thank God for the privilege and honour of being one of these current-day Obed-Edoms for the past 8+ years, since 7 May 2017 to be exact. I turn 58 this December and am committed to driving our awesome Class 4 vehicles for another good 7 more years till I reach the age of 65.

IFOJ (2013) / OTBT (2018)

Sunday, 23rd November 2025

To recap, here is my rapture list again:

1. Visit Villa Park (2007/2015)
2. Own a BMW (2008/2016)
3. Appear on TV (2008/2022)
4. Go Israel (2013/2018)
5. Drive a lorry/truck (since 2017)
6. Go on a Mission Trip (2018)
7. Attend a Hillsong Conference (2019)
8. CFO a listed company (2019)
9. Ride a motorbike (2020)
10. Interact with a corgi (2022)
11. Play bass guitar (since 2022)
12. Attend a Kim Wilde concert (2024)
13. Reduce golf handicap to single-digit
14. Travel across USA
15. Meet Pastor Joseph Prince in person

While my list has quite a number of what some would term "secular" items (the 1st 3 I have blogged about certainly are), the next 4 on that list take on more "spiritual" overtones.

As a younger Christian, there were certain "grey" areas that I grappled with such as tithing, healing, tongues, losing of salvation, etc.

One other such "grey area" was on the relevance of Israel.  I recall when I was still in Paya Lebar Methodist Church, there was this particular worship leader who would always invariably pray for Israel when she was rostered to pray on behalf of the congregation (and my mom would invariably point it out to us in the car on the way home after church service).

I myself was neutral to this, and my idea of making a "pilgrimage" back then was to Villa Park rather than to the land of Israel (hence my answer to my then-CGL Eugene Kwek back in 2005).

But as I listened more and more to grace-based sermons by Ps Joseph Prince on various topics, those "grey" areas mentioned above have now become to me clearly "black" or "white".

Namely, tithing is for us new covenant believers to testify Jesus is alive, healing is 100% our portion, tongues is our offensive weapon against the enemy, we can never lose our salvation, and last but not least, God is not done with Israel and that chosen nation is not just relevant but pivotal in the endtimes.

The love (and hence hatred) for the nation of Israel is supernatural; it cannot be "explained".  And as my journey with the Lord became more and more aligned with that of New Creation Church, making a trip to the Holy Land with that particular church became an integral part of my rapture list -- what our church simply calls, "Go Israel".

This item has been checked off twice: in 2013 and in 2018 (and should have been for a third time in 2023).

In the Footsteps of Jesus (25 Nov to 4 Dec 2013)

Our first trip (meant for first-timers to follow "in the footsteps of Jesus" and hence titled such) was with Ps Henry Yeo.

My wife and I had to keep a very low profile because we were still attending our previous church at that point in time.

Off the Beaten Track (15 - 25 Nov 2018)

We made our second trip (meant for the more adventurous second-timers to travel "off the beaten track" and hence titled such) was led by Ps Ronald Koh. 

This was towards the end of 2018, the very year we had just officially changed church, so yours truly was very much more visible and forthcoming this time around.

Unlike other holidays, vacations and destinations, there is something very special about visiting the Holy Land and it is a place that I myself would not mind going to repeatedly because the Bible comes alive and we get to encounter the God of that Bible afresh.

In fact, my wife and I had actually signed up to go on a trip meant for third-timers entitled Off The Beaten Track 2 (OTBT2 T131123) from 13 to 24 November 2023, and even attended a very insightful pre-trip briefing on 16 September 2023.

Ps Ron painstakingly took the effort to walk us through our itinerary from Days 2 through 11, and the significance of the various biblical places we were to visit.

Unfortunately, the war broke out a month before our scheduled departure and the trip was cancelled, for which got a full refund.

Given the current improving situation in the Middle East, I cannot wait for our Church to resume visits there again in the not too distant future, so that we can go on that trip! Amen?

It's Telly Time! (2008/2022)

Saturday, 22nd November 2025

Today, I will blog about the 3rd item on my rapture list, and that is appearing on television.

And just like the first 2 items, this too has been checked off twice -- once in 2008 and a second time in 2022.

My debut appearance on the telly is connected to the 1st item on the list.  Back in the late 2000s, there was a weekly TV series sponsored by Nokia entitled "Football Crazy".  

Every now and then, they would invite football fanatics to appear on the show, and I can just imagine how many requests from supporters of the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United they would have turned down.

On the other hand, Aston Villa fans were a rarity back then, so they welcomed us with open arms, as we numbered only a handful and could easily fit into the studio.

And that was exactly what happened!  Back then, we had a Yahoo! Group called AstonVillaRox, and the producer of the show Collette Wong cordially invited us to ESPN's studio at NewTechPark to appear on the show, and it was broadcasted live on 28 February 2008.

In the end, only 3 of us turned up (namely Mark Ho, Lim Chen Meng and me, the rest were too shy). But it was such an amazing experience.  That's us with the hosts Jamie Yeo, Andy Panders, Sheikh Haikel and PJ Roberts.

I actually appeared on TV a second time more recently and that was thanks to my elder sister, Angie.  She used to work in MediaCorp as a script writer and they still engage her occasionally.

In 2022, she was asked to write the script for a series called "Let's Talk About Health" and she asked if I knew anyone who would be keen to appear as "calefares" for an episode on the sensitive topic of "Male Menopause, aka Andropause". 

I asked my circle of friends, and they all declined when informed of the topic at hand, for obvious reasons, haha.

As for me, being the thick-skinned person that I am, and having the opportunity to appear on telly again, I happily volunteered.

And so, here is my 15 seconds of fame: me posing the question to the urologist haha.

Bayerische Motoren Werke (2008/2016)

Thursday, 20th November 2025

Today, we move on to the 2nd item on the rapture list, namely to own a Bayerische Motoren Werke (ie. "BMW"). 

When my dad was in his mid-30s, he bought a Mercedes Benz. That is a photo of it being used for his brother's wedding.

Having fulfilled his dream, he would then opt to drive Toyotas for the rest of his life.

I, on the other hand, have never fancied a Merz.  I seem to get the vibe that Merz drivers are very "ah-zhek" ie. "lao uncle" haha.

But I have been very fascinated with Bimmers, especially so after I joined a Munich-headquartered company in 2005.  Up until then, I had been driving Japanese cars -- a couple of Toyotas and a couple of Mitsubishis.

In 2008, I joined a Canadian-headquartered company.  It was at this point in time of my career when continental cars became affordably within my budget, and so I took a trip to Performance Motors Limited ("PML") to check out the X3.

An ex-colleague of mine from that earlier German company, Valerie Foo, happened to be MBA classmates with the then-GM of PML and informed him about my interest.  That weekend, the GM arranged for his top salesgirl to attend to me.  She also told me her boss told her to give me a staff discount!  As a result, the X5 suddenly became within my budget, and I ended buying the X5 at the price of an X3!!!  God was exceedingly, abundantly answering my prayer.  Hallelujah!

And so in December 2008, at the age of 41, I checked off item 2 on my rapture list.  That's my bestie and I posing in front of the X5.  And yes, 5 and 7 are my favourite numbers.

Truth be told, the X5 was the most ostentatious car I have ever driven.  The monthly instalments were around $4,200+, petrol cost was in excess of $900 a month as I was only getting like 6km per litre, not to mention road tax and insurance was exorbitant too.  But hey, I was at the peak of my career and paying tax at rates higher than corporations.

Sometime in late 2015, I thought I saw an MPV with the BMW logo.  I googled it and sure enough, Performance Motors had just introduced into Singapore a 7-seater to compete with the likes of Honda Odyssey and Toyota Wish.And so in April 2016, it was time to check-off item 2 of the list a second time. I bought a Diesel 2-series Gran Tourer for a mere $138,888.

Here is a video of the car I took in 2020 as part of the SG55 celebrations.  I actually bidded for SLC7557G but someone beat me to it.  So I bidded for SLC5775G and thankfully that was successful.

And this car was so much more wallet-friendly.  Monthly instalments was just over $1,500, diesel was very affordable, and I was getting like 13-14 km per litre.

Now that I am in my late 50s, my fascination with continental cars has waned.  I currently drive a Tesla and am seriously considering a Lexus as my next purchase.  And for some reason, neither the Tesla nor the Lexus is on my rapture list.

Riding a motorbike, however, is on that list, and I will blog about that in a future post.

Pilgrimages to Villa Park (2007/ 2015/2025)

Tuesday, 18th November 2025 

Ok, let's kick off with the 1st item on that rapture list.

I thank God that my teenage dream of visiting Villa Park became a reality not once, not twice, but three times.

1st visit: 18 March 2007

The first time around, I was working in a German company then and was scheduled to attend a Finance Workshop at its HQ located in Munich from Tuesday 21 to Thursday 23 March 2007.  I checked Aston Villa's fixtures and lo and behold, they were playing Liverpool at home on Sunday 18 March 2007.

Frankfurt to Birmingham

I was supposed to fly Singapore --> Frankfurt --> Munich.  I got my department secretary's assistance to book Frankfurt --> Birmingham and Birmingham --> Munich, and paid for the additional cost from my own pocket, of course.  

Actually, what I paid was effectively for 2 "domestic" flights between Germany and UK; the international flights were paid by my company.  The domestic airport of Frankfurt did not have aerobridges; we had to walk on the tarmac and board the plane by climbing a tiny flight of stairs.

£30 Match Ticket

The game itself ended up 0-0,  but the atmosphere was simply amazing.  Back in 2017, the ticket cost only £30 and I managed to get a seat just 6 rows or so from the kick-off centre circle.

I stayed at the Conference Aston, the hostel run by Aston Business School.  It was about a 15-minute walk to Villa Park, and 3-night stay there cost only £90 in all.

I had wanted to go on a stadium tour, but they unfortunately do not conduct any on match-day itself nor the day after.  Hence, this became a valid excuse to visit Villa Park a second time, haha.

2nd visit: 1 September 2015

The second time around, I was working in a Canadian company, and went on an all-expenses paid incentive trip to Holland and Belgium.

My dad came along with me, and we extended our trip to England as well as to Scotland.

His lifelong dream was to play golf at St Andrew's, and we both played at the Strathtyrum Course, in additional to a walking tour of the 1st, 17th and 18th holes of the Old Course.

tour tickets

On the drive up to Scotland, we included stadium tour visits of both Villa Park and Anfield (dad supported Liverpool).

the dugout

And to be frank, I enjoyed the stadium tour more than I did that game back in 2007.  There was much more to soak up and to experience, given the rich history of this football club.

home dressing room

trophies

Will I make a third pilgrimage to Villa Park?  If John Gregory resumes his managerial duties, perhaps :-)

P.S. I did: on 30 December 2025. And bought some memorabilia too.

My Rapture List

Friday 14th November 2025

Back in 2005, when I was a member of 3L2, my then cell group leader Eugene Kwek asked his CG members whether there was a task or two we wanted to carry out before we went to heaven.

I told them that ever since I was a teenager, I had a lifelong dream of visiting Villa Park (the home of Aston Villa) and also attending a concert performance by Kim Wilde, my all-time favourite pop singer.

After that meeting, I sat down to compile my own version of a "bucket" list, which I refer to as my "rapture" list. After all, being raptured to be with the Lord is a better alternative than to kick the bucket :P

That list has a total of 15 items, and I thank God that in the 20 years or so since the list was first compiled, 12 of them have been checked off, leaving just 3 more to go.

The list is as follows (with the year of fulfilment so indicated):

1. Visit Villa Park (2007/2015)
2. Own a BMW (2008/2016)
3. Appear on TV (2008/2022)
4. Go Israel (2013/2018)
5. Drive a lorry/truck (since 2017)
6. Go on a Mission Trip (2018)
7. Attend a Hillsong Conference (2019)
8. CFO a listed company (2019)
9. *Ride a motorbike (2020)
10. *Interact with a corgi (2022)
11. Play bass guitar (since 2022)
12. Attend a Kim Wilde concert (2024)
13. Reduce golf handicap to single-digit
14. Travel across USA
15. Meet Pastor Joseph Prince in person

* Items 9 and 10 were initially "get a motorbike" and "get a corgi" but had to be changed for reasons I will blog about in greater detail in future posts.

Item 15 eludes the majority of attendees of New Creation Church, although we do see him on stage week in, week out.

The closest I myself have been was when I sat 5 rows from the stage on my first Encounter Night in January 2018, courtesy of my current CG leader Vivien Ong, who kindly gave me her ticket. 

Ps Prince has however autographed my copy of Destined to Reign, together with a personalised message written to me, courtesy of Ps Lawrence Lim who helped to arrange that.

Meanwhile, I eagerly look forward to God orchestrating that personal face-to-face meet up with my Senior Pastor in the not too distant future.

I have a dear friend (and fellow blogger), Stanley Wong, who met both Ps Prince and his wife Wendy, and had his photo taken with both of them.

I blew up that photo for him to A4 size, and till today still bask in the reflected glory on his behalf haha.

In the coming days, I will blog more about each of the 12 items already checked-off, so stay tuned!